French president Macron downs beer bottle in 17 seconds, sparks binge-drinking row
French president Emmanuel Macron has been accused of binge-drinking and toxic masculinity by his political rivals after a video, which showed him downing a beer bottle in 17 seconds, went viral.
The incident happened during a victory celebration as Toulouse- France’s local rugby team clinched the domestic league title at the weekend.
The video shows Macron being handed a bottle of Corona- a popular beer brand- in the Toulouse changing room after the end of the game at the Stade de France in Paris on Saturday, which he watched from the VIP enclosure.
After being urged to down it in one go, Macron gulps the bottle within seconds as the winning team staff cheered and filmed him on their phones.
“Toxic masculinity in political leadership in one image,” tweeted Sandrine Rousseau, an MP for the Green party- a center-left to a left-wing political party that emphasises environmental issues.
Defending Macron, his party MP Jean-René Cazeneuve replied that it’s just a president sharing the joy of players. “A president who is sharing in the joy of 23 players and taking part in their traditions. That’s all,” he tweeted.
The beer stunt is also been seen to portray Macron as the ‘man of the people’ after he was accused of being cut from people when he drank during the pension crisis in March.
The choice of Corona beer – the favourite drink of the late rightwing president Jacques Chirac – led to comments about whether Macron was using it to make overtures to the right, reported The Guardian.
Bernard Basset, from the charity Association Addictions France, told BFMTV, “The president has a responsibility as a role model in terms of setting a healthy example for behaviour … In this case, he’s associating sport, parties, and the consumption of alcohol in a context of virile peer pressure where everyone drinks a bit too much.”
William Lowenstein, a doctor and addiction specialist, said, “It’s inappropriate … You could do it, but not in front of the cameras.”